Airport Express + 10MBps Hub + Mac Pro

M

mothnyc

Registered
Okay guys...

I have had my airport express hooked up to my DSL for over a year now and everything has been working great. I access my internet with a laptop over the wireless network. Everything is automatic DHCP.

Then I get laid off, but am given my work computer (a Mac Pro tower) to take home. Yay! Here comes the problem:

My DSL modem only has one ethernet port. I would still like to use my laptop in the apartment (checking emails/watching hulu in bed) but I can't hook the desktop and the airport up at the same time.

So...

Best Buy sells me a $17 10mbps hub as a solution.

I can get internet going toh either the airport or the mac pro through the hub, but not both at the same time.

My guess:
Each device needs to be assigned an IP address, and the hub cannot do that?

My Hope:
I can manually assign the IP address without buying anymore equipment?

Thanks in advance for the help!
 
Why don't you just get a wireless card for your Mac Pro that way both the Mac Pro and MacBook can use the Express at the same time?
 
I considered this, but the speed over the wireless is slower. Also, I didn't buy a wireless card. I bought this hub thing. Ideally, I would like to use what I've got.
 
OK lets take stock of the network equipment you do have: 1. Cable/DSL modem, 2. Airport Extreme.

Now you IP most likely sells you ONE IP (as most do) so you have been doing NAT (Network Address Translation) and you now have two Macs to get onto the network. Plus being unemployed at this moment but given a sweet Mac Pro that should have TWO ethernet ports on it (my first generation stock Mac Pro has two).

So since in your situation lets use those two ports to share an IP to the Airport Express.

This would be a whole lot simpler with a simple wired router that has a built in switch.
 
So bestbuy sold me the wrong thing? Thanks guys.
So the setup is DSL>Switcher>Desktop? and DSL>Switcher>Airport?
 
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